The Wacky Watercooler September Blog Hop -- Welcome Autumn

Welcome to our September Wacky Watercooler Blog Hop.  I don't know about the area in which you live, but here in Alberta the trees are turning marvellous colours.  That's one of the best parts of late Summer and the beginning of Autumn.  I wish it wouldn't get dark so much sooner, but that's another story.

This month we're excited to show you more wonderful projects from the Holiday Catalogue, especially some reflecting Autumn as well as anticipating such holidays as Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving.  We have some very talented stampers from various areas of the United States and Canada in September's Blog Hop.  Remember, this is a circular Blog Hop.  That means wherever you begin, if you continue to go to the next participant, you will eventually wind up exactly where you began.  I hope you'll take the time to visit all our blogs and, perhaps, leave a comment.

If you've been moving forward in the Blog Hop, you'll have come here from a brand new addition to our Blog Hop, Marie Green.  Marie is excited to be part of the hop and we've all been excited to see her wonderful projects.

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In the Holiday Catalogue, on page 11, you'll see a weird contraption.  It's the Curvy Keepsake Box Thinlits Die.  At first glance it looks like two Christmas lights stuck together.  This weird contraption, however, allows you to make some of the most darling boxes.  They're so cute, they're addictive.  I can see these little boxes, filled with goodies, being given out at birthday parties, weddings, showers, class parties, etc.  They're terrific!

I made a few simple ones just to give you a small idea of how cute they can be.  You can see, I've used cardstock, vellum and Designer Paper for my little creations.  No matter what you use, they wind up being simply delightful.  I'm sure these are going to be a real hit item in the Holiday Catalogue.

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As I mentioned, our leaves are turning marvellous colours.  I have been so enthralled with them that I felt compelled to create a wreath imitating their glory.  Luckily, with all the great colours of cardstock that Stampin' Up! carries, I was able to come close.

I used that wonderful Autumn Accents Bigz die to cut leaves of every shape and size from the following cardstocks:  Baked Brown Sugar, So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Tangello Twist, Cajun Craze, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow.  Yes, that's a lot of colours, but if you begin to count the colours that Mother Nature presents to us this time of year, you'll agree that she wins by a long shot.

After cutting all those leaves, there was the preparation phase.  I wanted my leaves to be similar to those that crunch under foot and overload our visual senses.  So, armed with two Stampin' Spritzers, one filled with isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of Baked Brown Sugar re-inker and the other filled with isopropyl alcohol and a few drops of Old Olive re-inker, I set all those leaves on some old papers on my back deck (this is too stinky a job to do indoors) and spritzed them all until they were nicely soaked.  Then I scrunched them as much as I could without actually tearing them.  Instead of straightening them out as flat as possible after the scrunching, I partially straightened them, leaving them sort of crumpled looking the way real leaves look when they've dried and fallen.

Luckily, with the alcohol, the drying time was minimal.  Before taking them indoors, however, I sprayed them all lightly with my Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.  The drying time with that was just a little bit longer.  I also cut seven acorns using the die and proceeded to "fix them up" during this time.  I had cut them from Baked Brown Sugar cardstock and used my Blendabilities to draw in a bit of a pattern across the "cap" and to colour in the nut area.  Then I took my Crystal Effects and covered the nut area with it.  I left the acorns to dry.

I had bought a flat, lightweight wreath form at the craft store and proceeded to wrap it using a roll of my 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon.  It took all but seven inches of the roll.  Mind you, I left a generous "hanger" which I glued down with my glue gun when I secured the last wrap of the burlap.  It certainly made the cheap wreath form look great, but then I like the look of burlap.  

By the time I finished the burlap, my leaves were nicely dried and I was able to begin assembly.  Let me say, simply, that there was no real rhyme or reason to gluing down the leaves.  I went by instinct and by how I liked the colours next to each other.

I had left just over a quarter of the wreath free of leaves.  For that area, I took some Champagne Glimmer paper and cut out the letters A-U-T-U-M-N using my Little Letters Thinlits.  Then I mounted them on 1" circles cut from the various colours of cardstock used in the leaves and glued them to the "empty" area.  The finished wreath was everything I had hoped it would be.

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Well, that's it for my projects.  I hope you've enjoyed them.  Your next stop will be with the exciting Deborah Smart.  She always has some wonderful surprises up her sleeve.  

If you get a moment, before you leave each blog, please leave a comment.  They're always appreciated.